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Dec 19, 2011

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 9 - Homemade

Hi everyone! Welcome to day 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts! Christmas is only 6 days away, but there is still time to craft! Why not try out this cute wreath made by Cameron from Homemade?

Hello! I'm Cameron from Homemade. I'm pretty new to the blogging world, but I am having a great time meeting new people - bloggers are such a terrific bunch! I love to create . . . just about anything. I sew, knit, crochet, paper craft, have a kiln that needs to be hooked up and a pottery wheel that needs to be dusted off. My two kids keep me grounded and remind me of what is MOST important in life, and my husband may be the most patient man on Earth. In between all this I work nights as an emergency room nurse. Sounds exciting, right? It is - I love my life, and I love blogging about the fun stuff I make, and hot tips I find, and occasionally personal stuff . . . now, onto the fast & easy project I have for you today - a warm & woolly wreath

Like burlap and trees made from old books, these seem to be popping up in holiday décor across the country, if not the galaxy. I have a yarn addiction (in addition to my fabric addiction), so I thought I probably needed to use a little of my stash to join the club. This is the easiest wreath I’ve ever made – it took me about 30 minutes while I was watching 4 kids under the age of 3. How’s that for multi-tasking!??!

To begin, you’ll need:-a wreath form (mine was 8”)

-some yarn (I chose a bulky and a thinner variety)

-your favorite glue-all

-if you want, some ribbon or other embellishment

I first tied my yarn around the form. I suppose I could have tried to glue it, but me and glue don’t always get along, seeing as how I’m really impatient and he’s kind of a slow dryer. Besides, at the end I’ll show you how to hide the tails and make your knot not show – aha ha ha. (I bet you’re looking at the screen like my

kids look at me when I make jokes.)

Start wrapping – you can be neat or messy. With my two totally different styles of yarn, I chose neat – I kept them together in the same manner all the way around. I dabbed a bit of glue on as I went – about every 2 inches – to keep things in place. Hot tip – keep your yarn in a tight ball and pass through the center to minimize tangling. Another hot tip – bunch the yarn up more along the inner part of the wreath form – otherwise you won’t end up with an even space to fill when you get back to where you started.

Once it’sdone, tie the ends onto your original knot. You’ll have something like this, which already looks pretty fabulous,right?

To tie upthose loose ends, just flip the little guy over and take a piece of wire or apaper clip that’s been turned into this very precisely formed “U” shape. Now, insert the base of the “U” under theyarn about 1-2” from the knot. Push upthe “U” of wire up under the yarn until you reach the knot, then push it out,being careful not to disturb your neatness, if that’s the route you went.

Grab thosetails and push them through the opening created when the “U” popped out next tothe knot.

Now, this istricky – gently pull the “U” back down, taking the tails with you. It takes some finesse, a little wiggling, andpossibly a mild curse word (like “oh fuzz buckets” or my sister’s favorite “sugarfoot”). Pull the “U” of wire all the wayout, and your yarn tails should be hanging out like this.

Now trimthem off. You have a bit of a knot,which shows up more in a neat pattern than it would in a random nest of yarn,but I like the security of a knot.

I almostleft my wreath unadorned – I loved how it looked like I’d wrapped the bulkygreen yarn over the red. It implied somuch more work than was actually done. But, I decided, like most things in life, this wreath needed a littleglitter. So, I added this bow!

The picturesdon’t do it justice – it’s the coolest goldish-silver glittery ribbon I’ve everseen. Want to know how to make thebow? I’ll show you – someday soon! Check back and I’ll link up the tutorialhere, I promise!